Big games don't faze Ravens rookie Flacco

January 04, 2009|By Adam Kilgore, BOSTON GLOBE

BALTIMORE — Joe Flacco walked back into the Baltimore Ravens locker room last Sunday afternoon and finished telling reporters how he had helped lead the Ravens back into the playoffs. He stared inside his locker, shook his head, and looked at the teammates giggling behind him. His socks and Air Jordan sneakers, their shoelaces tied together, had been drenched with water.

The prank served as the day's lone reminder that Flacco is still only a rookie, still only one year removed from leading Delaware to the Championship Subdivision title game. Nothing about his poised performance suggested he had only 16 games of NFL experience. Flacco, in a 27-7 victory over Jacksonville that was needed to cement a playoff spot, completed 17 of 23 passes for 297 yards.

At this point last year, Flacco was preparing for the NFL combine, beginning his off-season workouts and trying to convince teams that not playing at college football's highest level didn't mean his skills wouldn't translate to the NFL. Now, by winning 11 games with a combination of poise and a cannon for a right arm, Flacco brought the Ravens back to the playoffs, where they will play at Miami on Sunday.

"Last year, I was probably getting ready to watch the first round of the playoffs and now I'm here playing in them," Flacco said last week. "So, it's a lot different. But this is where I wanted to be last year. We feel like we have a really good team and that's the most important thing -- just how confident we are going into this thing and what we think we can do."

Flacco and former Boston College star Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons shifted conventional wisdom about rookie signal-callers this season. No rookie quarterback has reached the Super Bowl, and only two -- Dan Marino in Super Bowl XIX and Ben Roethlisberger in Super Bowl XL -- have made the Super Bowl in their second seasons. The defenses were too fearsome, the learning curve too steep, for a rookie to succeed at the most pressurized position in sports.

Flacco, though, succeeded after winning the Ravens' starting job in camp. And, despite history, Flacco never believed his first season would unfold any differently than it has.

"I don't think you plan on being drafted and not playing and being on a losing team," Flacco said. "I think when you plan on being drafted, you see yourself playing and you see yourself in the playoffs and going to the Super Bowl at some point.

"I don't know if it's ever happened too much that a rookie quarterback, or two rookie quarterbacks, have done it. But when you're a quarterback and you want to be a good player in this league you think about going to the playoffs and you think about being a winning quarterback in the playoffs."

Flacco's story, compared with Ryan's, may have done even more to upset the notion of how NFL quarterbacks become stars. He committed to Pittsburgh out of Audubon High School in New Jersey, but fell behind Tyler Palko on the depth chart and realized playing time would not come at Pitt. Intent foremost on finding a place he could play, Flacco transferred to Delaware.

His time there prepared him for the situation he finds himself in now. Flacco won two road playoff games his senior season. He operated mostly out of the shotgun in a pass-reliant offense. Flacco never felt his small-school pedigree inhibited his preparation or development, and it never scared off the Ravens.

They saw what mattered: Flacco stood 6 feet 6 inches, and, at 23, could throw a football, with accuracy, as hard as any quarterback on the planet. They chose him 18th overall, and then they discovered immediately he was different.

Before the team convinced him to use the car service they had reserved for him, Flacco offered to drive himself, in his own car, to his introductory news conference. His parents, Steve and Karen, three of his five younger siblings, and his girlfriend came with and sat in the front rows.

Flacco's humility helped him in a locker room of strong-willed veterans, defensive players such as Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, and Bart Scott who, in the past, have openly challenged the offense. Flacco did not allow youth -- he'll turn 24 Jan. 16, two days before the AFC championship game -- to hinder him, winning over teammates as he silenced those who doubted a quarterback from Delaware could play in the NFL.

"If you watch the kid, he has a calm, humble spirit about himself," Lewis said. "Just the way he plays the game, Joe is really one who's special."